The Fridge SA

Couple resurrects sandwich-centered food truck

By Kathleen Petty

Photo By Liz Warburton

Eva and Gabriel Cardenas affectionately refer to their sea foam green food truck, The Fridge, as their baby. So when the couple found out they were expecting an actual baby, they weren’t sure there was room in the family—or in their hectic food truck owner schedule—for both. Before their son, Sol, was born, they leased the truck to another chef and Gabriel left the mobile kitchen for a nine-to-five job. It didn’t take long, though, for the couple to realize they missed their crazy culinary life. So when the lease fell through a few months later, the Cardenas returned to The Fridge, officially re-opening over the summer. Eva now concocts the menu from home while Gabriel whips up recipes in the truck—Sol even stops by (along with Mom or Grandma) from time to time to visit Dad while he cooks. “We quit to live a normal life and got sucked back in,” says Gabriel. “If you love what you do, then you’ve got to do it.”

How’d you get into the culinary world?

GC: Our background is different from other people’s who might have more of a culinary pedigree. We come from healthcare kitchens—nursing homes and hospitals—but overall we learned the same basic techniques. I’ve always cooked, even when I was a kid.EC: I haven’t always been into cooking. I just know how to eat and I want to share that with my people. We both worked in healthcare kitchens for 10-plus years. We met while working at the same nursing home.

Tell us about your menu.

EC: I come up with the recipes just by what I like eating. That’s how I came up with our sandwich The Hottie. I had a craving for fried chicken and Hot Cheetos and I thought, ‘You know, why don’t I just batter the Hot Cheetos and be done with it.’ I put it with the chicken and it turned into The Hottie. It’s still one of our most popular items.GC: Our top seller is the avocado panini with turkey, avocado, red pepper, basil and mozzarella. It’s all these different flavors. It’s really, really good. In all we have around 20 sandwiches but we only do four to five on the menu at a time.

Some of your items are on the healthy side. Is that what people are looking for?

GC: They’re not. People say they want healthy food, but they don’t. We’ll have cucumber salad and fries as sides and the fries will always win out—and our cucumber salad is good.EC: We do attract people who want healthy food, though, because we’ve got the option.

This article appears in the December 2015 issue of San Antonio Magazine